General Casey, on Meet the Press, exemplified the “honorable,” but psychologically unbalanced, attitude of military leadership in this country. He repeatedly denied that the “Army” missed anything in not identifying Major Hasan’s serious mental issues leading to his attack on so many innocent victims at Ft. Hood. This is an “untruth,” of course. Denial of facts is, however, an “honored” tradition in the military. It is also a sickness that must be treated!

Colon Powell, one of the most honorable men of our time, however inadvertently, put his party first and his country second without even realizing it. Condy Rice did the very same thing. Misplaced loyalty to people and flags and institutions cannot substitute for loyalties to principles; in the end it usually leads to tragedy. Wars in Iraq, Afghanistan and God knows where else, are not worth the sacrifice of the heart and soul of America. Indeed, there are more legitimate ways to fight terrorism, but they demand logic and perspective. Most people have given up. Voters are notoriously senseless- voting for someone’s smile or good looks or one’s appeal to their baser instincts. Worse yet, they believe that the lobbies are invincible.

Mindless attacks on governments and nations, “wars” are tools of lobbies used to make great fortunes at the expense of average citizens and innocent soldiers. Why attack Saddam Hussein at all, WMDs or not, when all we needed to do was to create a legitimate blockade of weaponry and take out a few of his oil wells?

For almost 30 years, ever since President Carter failed to confront the hostage crisis in Iran, I have been a proponent of an actual policy on terrorism. Never mind our stupid “wars” on everything from “poverty” to “drugs” to “gambling” to medical research! If Iran wants to be an official sponsor of terrorist training in their classrooms and to organize or finance groups like Hezbollah or Hamas, then let us give them due credit. Attribute every suicide bombing and every terrorist act to Iran. Give them the responsibility to control terrorism. Better yet, give them the incentive to do so.

Submit to the UN a policy, stating that for every terrorist act, anywhere, we will gladly give Iran the credit they ask for. We will identify the oil wells that we plan to destroy and give them adequate time to abandon them before we do so. Why go to war with armies? Europeans, dependent on Iranian oil, may object at first, but, eventually, they will ensure that Iran does not receive unlimited supplies of weapons and other goods that they are so freely supplied by the military industrialists.[1]

Mr. Obama, for your part, it is time to develop a greater understanding of perspective. This includes looking at your military and the poor quality of its leadership as well as its corruption. Under Rumsfeld and Cheney, many of our best generals and admirals were fired and military and central intelligence (both currently oxymorons) were so severely compromised that neither has any accountability left, at all. We have a military force that is executing itself at a faster rate than by the enemy (unless one considers our own government as an enemy). How much can the average general expect to make off of the military industrialists as a reward for supporting warfare and useless weapons? Most importantly, does he have to wait for retirement before he can collect?

I repeat- how many soldiers died or lost body parts for lack of tank antimissile devices, devices our military refused to purchase from Israel? How many died for lack of or poor quality armor? Raytheon, given millions of dollars to produce tank antimissile devices by the year 2010, can keep its “blood money” and Mr. Obama can, foolishly, seek advice from one of its members. Treason is just another commodity in Washington and it comes in two flavors: Republican and Democrat.[2]

Allen Finkelstein, D.O.

[1] Even Israel, faced with attack by Hezbollah, an Iranian armed force, was afraid to take out oil wells in Iran. Instead they, foolishly, attacked Hezbollah strongholds in Lebanon, laying waste to their neighbor’s countryside and killing many innocent people. For the Western World, nothing is more sacred than oil.

[2] As this article finally “goes to press,” President Obama may be sending more troops to Afghanistan in a questionable new strategy similar to the surge in Iraq- targeting only specific non central areas of possible benefit. I disagree with this strategy, but pray that it works. I fear that it is only a temporary “fix.”